


Crimson Clan

by Fandom_Obsessed



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Human Harry Styles, Human Liam Payne, Human Louis Tomlinson, Human/Vampire Relationship, Humans, No Sex, No Smut, Vampire Niall Horan, Vampire Zayn Malik, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28536696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Obsessed/pseuds/Fandom_Obsessed
Summary: "For what it's worth, on behalf of the entire Crimson Clan, I extend my sincerest apologies. Mistakes like this should never happen. We should be much better than this, but alas, one incompetent vampire among all of us is all it takes for innocent people to get hurt."
Relationships: Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter One

Downtime wasn't common for Zayn. Today was one of those very very rare days. His mother was out on some job she was given and it's a few cities away so she would be gone most of the day. With her taking care of that, Zayn was given the day to relax unless something came up, which was always a possibility. He was mentally prepared to have to get up and leave at a moment's notice, but he took his chance to relax while he could.

Settled down on the back porch of his parent's home with a glass of dark red liquid in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Fangs ever so slightly poking out as he bites his lip a tad. Rain poured down hard on the roof above him and he just stared out at the pretty empty yard in front of him. Nothing at all was on his mind for once in his life. He took a sip of the crimson liquid inside of the glass and licked his lips a bit before taking a puff of the cigarette. The cigarette didn't actually do much of anything for him, but he always just liked the action of smoking. Unlike humans who got addicted to the nicotine in tobacco products, Zayn and other vampires didn't. Nicotine never affected them, let alone got them addicted, but just the actual action of lighting a cigarette and smoking was appealing. Much like people just doing something for the sake of doing it.

When there was nothing left of the cigarette, he put out the butt of it in an ashtray at his side, taking a deep breath after exhaling the smoke. The rain was pouring down even harder than it had been just a few moments prior and the wind started to really pick up. Zayn would be freezing if vampires were bothered by the cold. He finished off the rest of his glass before finally standing up and walking inside with the now empty glass and ashtray. He planned on going up to his room until he heard his father's voice calling out to him from the family room. "Zayn, I need you to come in here for a moment."

Zayn stopped mid-step at the bottom of the staircase when he heard his father's voice and called back, "Alright. Coming," before turning around and walking down the few steps he had walked up and made his way to the family room. He entered the large room to see his father sitting in his chair across from someone Zayn recognized, but he couldn't put his finger on their name. In front of the two of them on a table was a large suitcase that was filled with wads of cash, some of which was now sitting on the table. He guessed his father had been in the middle of counting cash before calling him in there. "What, dad?" Zayn asks as his father looks away from the man he had been sitting across to look at Zayn before standing up.

"Zayn, there has been a bit of a mixup." His father glares at the man who was still sat in the chair, who just looked down when, before looking back at Zayn. "Two of our men are going after the wrong human downtown. For some reason, we had a mixup about who we needed them to track down. We need you to chase after them and tell them to step off. I know you won't disappoint me so that's why I want you to do it." His eyes flash a deep shade of crimson for a minute before they return to their normal, telling Zayn that his dad means business.

Zayn gives him a nod before responding. "I'll get on it right now." He says, earning a nod back from his dad. His dad tells him where he last knew they were headed as Zayn set the glass that he still had in his hand from when he was outside on the table. He gives his dad one last nod, understanding the location before he made his way out the front door. The rain was still pouring, but Zayn had to go before someone innocent got hurt. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he bolted. Zayn's body was just a blur as he ran as fast as he could to the location his dad gave him, hoping he wasn't getting there too late. The last thing this clan needed was an innocent murder on their hands.

He made his way around the edge of town to avoid causing potential traffic problems or cause any accidental harm until he got to the street where the old movie theater was. The old movie theater was just at the edge of town, so Zayn didn't have to go much further. He carefully, but quickly made his way down to the theater and as he got closer, he could hear the struggle. "Shit," he mumbled under his breath as he picked up the pace a bit and turned into the ally right next to the theater. What he saw was quite a surprise. He recognized the two members of the clan but noticed how they were struggling quite a lot to actually contain, let alone harm the human. The human was fighting hard and was actually doing a damn good job at keeping them off. Zayn probably would have just watched for a while longer, if he wasn't there to get the two off of the human.

"Stop," Zayn says in a stern, serious voice, walking closer to the commotion. Both of the vampires stop in their tracks and back away from the human, who was breathing heavily, obviously exhausted from the fight. Zayn glared at both of them, eyes flashing red as his father's eyes had done only shortly before. "You have the wrong man. You both are to leave him alone. Now I'm sure my father wants to talk to you, so you both need to get going." Without a single word from either one of them, they both take off in a blur, headed toward the house that Zayn had just come from.

The human that was still standing there, panted hard and hand his hands on his knees as he was still standing under the pouring rain, most likely frozen down to the bone. "What... the fuck... was that about?" He panted hard, glancing up at Zayn, a deep cut clear on his cheek. Other than the cut though, the guy seemed pretty much unharmed.

Zayn sighed and rubbed his forehead. "One of our men mistakenly told them to target you instead of some other asshole we are having real issues with," he tried to explain. He knew this wasn't going to go over well though. I mean, how could it. Being wrongfully targetted by the Crimson Clan? Who wouldn't be pissed off? "For what it's worth, on behalf of the entire Crimson Clan, I extend my sincerest apologies. Mistakes like this should never happen. We should be much better than this, but alas, one incompetent vampire among all of us is all it takes for innocent people to get hurt."

The man finally caught his breath and stood up, wrapping his arms around himself. "Just tell them to be much more careful next time. Anyone else probably would be dead." The comment struck Zayn as odd. Anyone else probably would be dead. Not that Zayn thought the guy was wrong, but to hear him actually say so is quite surprising. Like he had been prepared for something like this all his life or something.

However, Zayn realized he really shouldn't stay too much longer. His dad would probably want him home as soon as possible. "Look, I need to go. If you ever need anything, find a member of the clan and tell them you need to talk to Zayn. For future reference, what's your name, by the way?" Zayn asked, wanting to do what he could to make up for this horrible mistake that happened.

"Name's Liam. Liam Payne," the man, now known as Liam, says. "I really need to go before I catch a cold or something. I know you vampires aren't affected by cold and rain, but we humans aren't so lucky. I'll be lucky if I'm able to leave my bed at all in the next few days." At the end of his statement, Liam actually let out a small laugh, causing Zayn to smile just a tad.

"Let me call you a cab and you can wait inside the old theater for it to get here. At least then you would be out of the cold." Zayn walked over to the front of the theater with Liam trailing close behind. "You're quite strong for a human. Never seen one be able to hold their own against one of us, let alone two."

"Well, when you're a guy like me who grew up as the only human in a neighborhood of vampires, ya kinda gotta learn how to take care of yourself against a lot of them at once." Zayn was surprised by his response but didn't press any further. Hell, what was the point in getting to know this guy too much? Zayn probably wasn't ever going to see him again anyway. He just gives Liam a shrug and opens the locked door of the old theater with ease, somehow not yanking it off of its hinges. When the two of them are both inside, Zayn pulls his phone out of his pocket as well as a handkerchief he keeps on him.

"Here. Wipe some of the blood off of your face and apply pressure to the cut until you can get into the hospital. I'll have the cab take you out there so you can get fixed up." He passes Liam the hankie before dialing his phone. Zayn had to admit this man had him intrigued. Who was this Liam Payne guy?


	2. Chapter Two

After seeing Liam climb into the cab Zayn, leaned down to talk to the driver. "He doesn't owe you anything. Just get him to the hospital and wait outside for him so you can take him home." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of hundred dollar bills from his pocket. "This should be more than enough. And don't let anyone know you saw me here, you understand?" The driver took the money and nodded before he drove off, Zayn glancing at Liam before he was out of sight.

The rain had now lightened up and instead of raining heavily, now it was just light sprinkling. Not that it mattered much since Zayn himself was absolutely soaked anyway. He ran a hand through his damp black hair and took a deep breath. He was glad he got that all sorted out before anyone got seriously hurt. A deep cut on the cheek is better than anything Zayn could have honestly hoped for. A few stitches and everything should be fine for Liam. One less thing to worry about, thank god. He took one last deep breath before he sprinted back home. It was still pretty early in the day, so Zayn still had a lot of the day to relax and do nothing. Well, hopefully.

He gets back to the house to see the maid in the family room, viciously scrubbing the floor to get a deep red stain out of the carpet. Zayn was sure the mixup that happened today would never happen again now. His dad was nowhere in sight and the briefcase that had been open before Zayn left was shut and locked, all the money back inside. "Cassidy, I can call in Tracy to give you help with that. It's going to take you a long time to get all of that out by yourself." Zayn says to the maid, who looks up at him, shaking her head.

"No thanks, Mister Zayn. I'll get this cleaned up in no time on my own." She then takes notice of how soaked he is. "Looks like you need a change of clothes. I know you don't need the warming up, but how about you go take a nice bath and I'll get you some warm clothes to change into when you get out." She stands up and places the brush she was using to scrub the carpet into the soapy water-filled bucket, but Zayn puts his hand up.

"You don't need to do that, Cassidy. You just worry about cleaning up," he says, to which she nods in response before going right back to cleaning. Zayn takes a deep breath and heads upstairs to his room to grab some clothes for him to change into after a bath. He passes by his dad on the way. "I'd say you got the problem taken care of huh?" Zayn asks him, and all his dad does is give him a small smile as they pass by each other on the stairs.

Until dinner that night, Zayn just takes it easy. He has a nice bath and does some light reading before going downstairs to join his family for dinner at the table as usual. Zayn takes his seat next to his dad as his dad starts to speak. "So Zayn, everything went well with the problem we encountered? Was the human hurt at all?" His dad asks him as the chefs bring out the food.

"He had a deep cut on his cheek, but that was it. I gave him my apologies on our entire clan's behalf and explained this situation never should have happened and will never happen again. I paid for his cab to get him to the hospital to patch up his cheek and then take him home. Told him to let one of our men know if there is anything I can ever do for him in the future to make up for this horrible error," Zayn explains. "Seemed to have held his own against the two of them and I was quite impressed. He said something about having to learn how to defend himself from vampires from growing up around them or something like that." His father listens intently as everyone's glasses are filled.

Since the family's diet really consisted of just blood, dinner at the dinner table was pointless, but it gave the family some time to really bond, and Zayn's really grown to love dinners with the family. As his dad turns his attention to one of his younger sisters, his mom comes in. "So sorry I'm late everyone. The deal took a lot longer to work out than I thought." She says, taking her seat on the other side of Zayn's dad, across from Zayn.

She continues to talk, but Zayn just zones out a bit, mind wandering to the man he had met today. He was honestly just blown away that a human held up that well against two of their own men. No members of the clan were weak by any means. Of course, they were stronger than humans just because they were vampires, but every member of the Crimson Clan is trained very well. They are all very skilled. So for a human to hold up that well against two well-trained vampires was beyond impressive in Zayn's mind. What kind of shit had Liam been put through growing up to be this prepared for an attack like this? It's kind of concerning. Is it something the clan needs to be aware of? Is it a big problem that they need to really focus on and get control over?

"Zayn." Zayn's snapped out of his thoughts by his mother. "Honey, you've barely touched your glass of blood. Everything okay?" She asks in her soft, caring voice. The ones only her kids and Zayn's dad get to experience.

Zayn just nods at her and takes a sip from his glass. "Yeah, I'm alright mom. Just thinking about something is all," he explains, though she isn't fully satisfied by his answer.

"Well, what is it that's on your mind. You don't get lost in thought often. Is it something your dad and I should know about?" She asks, and Zayn thinks about it for a moment. He doesn't get the chance to respond before his dad beats him to it.

"Zayn did say that human that was targetted today was unusually strong and well equipped to deal with two of our men. I image that's weighing on his mind. Seeing something like that would be quite odd and surprising," his dad says as he looks over at his son. "Is that right, son?"

Zayn nods again. "Yeah. It really was a surprising thing to see. I was almost in awe of it," he explains simply. "All he had, in the end, was a gash in his cheek and he was pretty exhausted when it was over, but overall he held his ground so well. I was wondering if his background maybe something we need to be concerned about. He says being the only human in a whole neighborhood of vampires forced him to fight. I know some of our kind can be wild animals, but do you think the clan needs to look into this? If we have large groups of vampires attacking humans regularly when blood bags are fairly easy to come by, then we may have a real problem on our hands." His dad takes a sip from his glass as he listens to his son lay out his thoughts in front of the family at dinner. He nods as Zayn talks.

"You make a good point Zayn. We can't have any vampires, members of our clans or not, out targeting humans like that. Try to see if you can get in touch with that human-"

"Liam," Zayn interrupts. "Liam Payne."

His dad just stares at him at the sudden interruption, but slowly nods and continues. "-Liam Payne... and see if he can give you any information. I'll give a call to one of my friends. Their son is great at tracking down people, no matter how hard. I'm sure you remember Niall, right? You two used to play a lot as children." Zayn smiles a little and nods. He and Niall were super close when they were younger, but over time, they just kind of grew apart. No hard feelings between the two of them or anything. Just didn't stay in touch well after they hit their teens. Zayn thought it would be really nice to see Niall again and catch up. Who knows what could have happened in the almost decade since the two of them have spoken to each other.

"Well, then I'll give his father a call first thing in the morning and tell him who we are looking for. Hopefully, we hear from this Liam guy soon or Niall tracks him down." With that, the family all finish their meals and then head off in their own directions. Tomorrow, the search for this human would begin.


	3. Chapter Three

First thing in the morning, Zayn walks out of his room, nice and dressed, and goes down to the kitchen to get himself something to drink. He was honestly just so thirsty. All that was on his mind was getting something to drink. As he poured himself a glass, his dad walked into the kitchen. "Morning, son." Zayn just gives him a slight nod as he takes a sip from his glass, his body relaxing as the familiar, metallic taste hit his tongue and his thirst was satisfied. "I called Bobby this morning. Niall is going to be on his way over in an hour or so to get any kind of information on this Liam guy." Zayn gave his dad another nod as he finished off his first glass of the morning and then poured a second.

"We'll track him down and get to the bottom of this, dad. I'll figure out if this is something we really need to worry about and if it is, we can put a stop to it," Zayn says quietly between sips of his red drink. His dad smiles softly and pats his son back.

"Good to hear. I know you boys will get it all figured out. Niall is our best tracker, and I know you'll do anything for this clan and for me. You make me proud," he says before leaving the room with his own glass. Zayn sighs to himself softly and rubs his forehead. Today was going to be a long day, he could tell, but it was something that needed to be done. For the safety of all the humans under the watch of Crimson Clan, they needed to figure it out and put a stop to it if need be.

Zayn leaves the kitchen and goes to sit on the front porch and wait for Niall to arrive. The morning was gorgeous. Not a single cloud in the sky and the sun was shining bright. Very little wind. Overall, it was just beautiful so Zayn figured he would just wait for his old friend there. He took another sip of his drink as he just thought to himself. What were they going to do about this problem, if it was a problem? They obviously had to do something about it, but what exactly would the solution to this be? Zayn was sure his dad was already figuring out how to handle this problem and Zayn really did have faith in his dad. He has done a great job as head of the Crimson Clan for decades after all. He has handled worse problems, or so Zayn thinks from the stories he has heard about previous issues his dad has had to handle.

Time seems to just fly by as it isn't long before Zayn sees Niall making his way up the long walkway toward the house. Zayn's glass was now empty, so he just sets the glass down on the table on the porch and gets up to greet Niall. "Now there is a face I haven't seen in too long," Zayn says with a smile as Niall makes his way up the steps of the porch. "Good to see that you're still doing well, Nialler."

The brunette chuckles and looks up at his raven-haired friend. "Being the clan's go-to tracker has its perks. Keeps me busy, but I also enjoy doing it so. Now," he says, opening his arms, "how about a hug for a childhood friend? Or do you not do hugs anymore?" Niall chuckles a little, making Zayn smile more before embracing Niall. "It's really good to see you again, Zayn. We'll have to catch up when we don't have work to do."

Zayn nods. "Definitely." He pulls away from him gently. "Alright. Come on inside. I'll get us something to drink and we can get to work. I don't have much for you to work with, but I know that won't really be a problem for someone of your skill. You've been able to track down people with nothing but a first name." The two of them laugh as they both head inside together.

"I'd work multiple days in a row to figure it out, but I always would figure out who exactly we were looking for. But I know you have more for me than just a first name so I think I can take it a little easier this time around," Niall says, patting Zayn on the back gently. "Now would you mind really explaining to me why we are looking for this human? My dad just told me that your dad needed me to help track him down and that you were the person I was going to be talking to so I could get information about this person."

Zayn sighs as he pours a glass for Niall. "It's a complicated story, but long story short, we need to be sure we aren't having issues with large groups of vampires unnecessarily targeting humans," Zayn explains simply. "Something this guy told me raised a bit of concern and when I brought it up to dad, he said it would be a good idea to track him down, see if he could tell us about his background a little more so we could figure out if we have a real problem on our hands or if it's an isolated instance with just starving vampires." Niall nods as Zayn explains the situation, brows furrowed in thought.

"That does seem like it could be a problem, or develop into a problem," he says as Zayn hands him his glass, taking a sip after the drink is in his hands. "Damn, your house always has good shit. O?"

Zayn chuckles. "O negative. You know my old man has specific tastes. Only O negative in this house." Niall laughs too and takes another sip, licking his lips a little after taking the second sip. "Alright. We really should get started. Let's go upstairs and talk."

The two of them leave the kitchen and head up the stairs toward one of the studies so the two of them could chat. Zayn opened the door to the study and Niall walks inside. "I forgot how nice of a place this really was," he chuckles, taking a seat next to the desk, Zayn following behind him and taking a seat at the desk.

"Yeah. Been a long time since you've been here," Zayn says, earning a nod from Niall. "Now, just ask me anything you can think of and I'll see if I can answer it."

Niall chuckles, pulling out a notepad and pencil from inside his jacket pocket. "I'm supposed to be telling you how this is supposed to go. Not the other way around," he jokes lightly. "Well, do you know this guy's name?"

Zayn nods. "Yeah. His name is Liam Payne. I don't know how it's spelled, but I'm sure that won't affect your search much." Niall nods and writes it down.

"Can you tell me where you encountered him?"

Zayn takes a deep breath. "Our men who attacked him encountered him next to the old movie theater on the edge of the opposite side of town. Not quite sure what he was doing there, but that's where he was."

Niall listens closely and writes down what he needs. "A description of the guy? Hair? Clothes? Eyes?"

Zayn closes his eyes and tries to picture the human in his mind. Liam's appearance just appears in his mind without much effort. "He had kind of short, curly brown hair. Brown eyes. I think he had a birthmark on his neck. His clothes were kind of tattered and torn, but that may have been because of the fight. He should have a bandage on his cheek now because his cheek was cut pretty deep in the fight."

The brunette nods and continues to take notes, writing down everything Zayn tells him. Niall goes on to ask a few more questions before Zayn runs out of things to say about the human he had encountered. Zayn watches as Niall wrote down the last of what Zayn told him and furrows his brows when he sees something shine. "I know we said we'd leave the catching up until after we track this Liam guy down, but Mr. Niall Horan. Is that a ring I see on your finger?" Zayn laughs a little and Niall stops writing suddenly, his face turning a bit pink.

"W-We said we'd leave the catching up for later so I will not answer that," Niall dodged the question and kept writing, cheeks dusted in the embarrassing pink color.

"That's my answer then," Zayn laughs more, nudging his old friend. "Well, whoever the lucky person is, I hope they really make you happy whoever they are. Hope I get to meet them after all of this is over." Niall just nods quietly, too embarrassed to really say anything.

Once he has all of his notes written, he stands up, putting his notepad and pencil back into his inside jacket pocket. "I'll get to what I can do to try and track this guy down. It shouldn't be too long, but who knows? I'll keep in touch and let you know. Until then, just try to relax and take it as easy as you can. I'll let myself out." Niall walks toward the door and puts his hand on the doorknob before stopping. "Wait. You said this guy had a cut on his cheek after encountering some of our men right?"

Zayn nods. "Yeah."

Niall nods. "You also said he was human correct?"

"That is correct."

"How the hell did a human walk away from a fight with two of our men almost unharmed?" Niall was just as confused as Zayn was when Zayn witnessed it himself.

Zayn just gives him a shrug. "I don't know how much his life before now prepared him for an attack like that, but the man was strong as shit. Never seen anything like it before."

"Noted. Well. I'll keep in touch, Zayn." Niall waves at his friend and leaves the study and heads out of the house. Zayn just sits there in thought for a bit. It may be a few hours before Niall figures anything out, but it may be a few days. Zayn was sure his dad wouldn't make him do anything until this whole situation was figured out, so Zayn decided to take this time for himself and do something productive. He leaves the study and goes up one more flight of stairs. He goes to the last door on the left and pulls a key out of his pocket, unlocking the door with a soft click. Opening the door, Zayn looked at all of the supplies in front of him and rolled up his sleeves after taking off his jacket. He shut the door and picked up a blank canvas next to the door.


End file.
